Daniel Radcliffe Thinks Harry Potter Will Be Rebooted ‘At Some Point’

Daniel Radcliffe, the man famous for portraying the titular young wizard of the franchise, believes that the series will inevitably get the reboot treatment at some point. Based on the immensely successful book series by J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter films took the story’s popularity to new heights and made household names out of its central trio of Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Featuring a supporting cast of just about every notable English actor of the 2000s and with direction from the likes of David Yates and Alfonso Cuarón, the Potter films are as fondly remembered as Rowling’s books by legions of fans across the world.

Such is the enduring popularity of the Harry Potter franchise, Warner Bros. have refused to leave it alone and swiftly began a new series of films based on Rowling’s 120-page charity tie-in, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander, the first Fantastic Beasts was well-received and its 2018 follow-up delved even further into wider Potter mythology by introducing a young Dumbledore, among other familiar names. At least one more film is set to be released in the series.

Aside from the continuation of Fantastic Beasts, there has also been talk of how long Warner Bros. will wait before rebooting the main Harry Potter story, and the actor famous for playing The Boy Who Lived has now chimed in on the matter. In an interview with IGN, Radcliffe was asked for his thoughts on a potential Potter reboot and claimed:

“I’m sure there will be some other version of it; I know I’m not the last Harry Potter I’m going to see in my lifetime… It feels like there’s a sacredness around them [the Harry Potter films] at the moment, but that’ll go, the shine will wear off at some point. It’ll be interesting to see if they reboot them and just do the films again or do a series; I’m fascinated to watch.”

Radcliffe is certainly being realistic in his assumption that Harry Potter will not stay sacred for long and another actor will inevitably be playing his most famous character at some point in the not-too-distant future. It’s interesting, however, that Radcliffe mentions the possibility of a TV series reboot. Such a prospect would’ve felt highly unlikely back in 2011 when The Deathly Hallows Part 2 hit theaters but with Amazon currently working on a The Lord of the Rings show, the possibility has certainly opened up, as TV projects have becoming increasingly cinematic in recent years.

On the other hand, it could be argued that the reboot has already begun to some extent. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald made several alterations to the established backstory and timeline and with potentially three further installments in that series to come, it’s surely only a matter of time until even more characters from the original films appear alongside Redmayne and co. Should these characters be played be different actors, then the franchise essentially already has a reboot on its hands and is one short step away from casting a new Harry, Ron and Hermione and starting all over again.